Wednesday and I wake up after another grim night when I resoted o co-codamol to get me off to sleep late a night. I do my vitals, which ae good again and then check my messages. There is nothing new so I get up and make breakfast. I do not want food at the moment but I make myself have it followed by my meds. It feels bleak and I ry to think what I can do to make my situation better. The sun is out so I go into the garden and sit on the patio using my “destroy it ” journal to doodle and make cartoons. That is where I stay for the morning, spending some time on the swing seat, where my partner joins me for lunch. We chat for a while before she goes to see her mother.

I make myself lunch and continue to watch the Post Office Enquiry. It is less bloody today and the junior minister does quite well. A friend rings me having just come away from her Blue Badge assessment, she is still fighting long COVID and the confining consequences on family life that it continues to have. After the rigours of the assessment she was going home to rest. I continue to watch the enquiry until my partner returns and gives me the parcel that has arrived for me. It is a surprise present from an old friend and colleague. It is the history of Brentford, my team through news papers fron way back to the modern day. Its a beezer gift and I am well chuffed. I send him a photo to him with me and the history.

I return to the patio to sit with my partner until she goes to make tea and I go into the garden to dead head peonies and prune the sweet bay tree by the Shed. After that small burst of energy I return to the patio and start to draft the blog. Perhaps tonight is the night to light the chimenea and switch the patio lights on. The family dine on the patio, the first time this year and as we the sun sets and a small chill enters the air I light the chimenea for the first time in years. I’m so glad the decision was made to do the upgrade of the drive and the patio. There is nothing like watching a real fire burn and feeling its warmth.

So we sit and watch the flames and I of course feed the ashes every so often to rekindle the flames. As the chill draws in so I move closer to the chimenea and return to drafting the blog. All around me the wood pidgeons are cooing and flapping in the trees at the end of the garden as they get ready to settle down for the and give way to what ever nocturnal wild life is going to scuttle about tonight. It is truly dusk and I wonder if there will be bats, perhaps it is also time to turn on the patio lights. I am truly like a child with a new toy. It is so calm and quiet this evening I wish my body would follow its example. The slightest breeze fans the flames and I continue to watch, knowing that the Great British Sewing Bee can be watched on catch up TV. As dusks falls I turn the lights on and I know the effort has been worth it.

I will sit here enjoying this time until I need to get more layers or to become more comfortable but while sitting here I’ve decided to stop taking my Hiprex, which is a prophylactic to discourage UTIs by sterilising my urine and gut but I am sure that it is this that is making my gut feel so acidic and uncomfortable so I am going to trial run it for a few days and se if it makes a difference. So this is where I leave the blog tonight, taking myself in hand and having an early night with amended night meds. Although I have lacked energy I feel today has been a day full of gifts and that cannot be bad.